Planted tank Experiment- Half the tank with Dirt, half the tank with no dirt. 50/50 tank

This is how much dirt I typically use. The other side, plain gravel. Who am I kidding.. I’m going to be using all kinds of plants on this sucker….www.fishtanktv.com

This is how I leveled up the tank so when I put on the black “designer” gravel it wouldn’t be slopped to one side…. I used a big 25lb bag of large grain gravel from home depot on the right side. (it is super cheap and great for outdoor ponds, but not a good planted substrate, but on the bottom it might have a plenum type affect. but it has Zero Ionizing (iron holding) properties like dirt and clay do.

Had to soak the dirt to make the plants go down in it. I planted some plants BEFORE I added a bunch of black gravel over top. This tank I added 25 lbs of gravel on top of the 75 surface area. Less could be used but I wanted to keep down the mess. Jungle val can take abuse. It goes in first. I usually have more water and gravel when I add plants. but this gives the hardy ones better rooting. (jungle val will melt anyways so…

Here’s how I add the gravel. Gotta cover the dirt up good or its a damn mess. Cover the dirt that is muddy, not as wet as this is. Just barely cover the dirt. Its gotta be really soaked though or it floats and your F’ed

Get all of the stuff floating outta there and drain it again. So now your have soil that has been soaked and ready to know. Duck week helps. Its still going to be a mess…. I’m full of it. I’m doing a bunch of species…screw three species..

Steve is a good help and the AGA convention is AMAZING. if you live near FL you have to go. Soo sweet.

You can see how this tank has a bunch of plants all over. They look good here, but will wither away as you can see in future videos. But that’s part of it. I don’t care..name of the game…